“Some of my earliest memories are of jumping and running along that endless beach; it’s where my love of movement began.”

My connection to the Long Island’s East End began at age two when my mom adopted me out of New York City’s foster care system. We spent our first summer together—and the rest of the summers of my childhood—in East Hampton.

I trace my role as a dancer with American Ballet Theatre to those magical summers from when I was a kid. The Hamptons will always be a place of dreams and ultimately, of possibilities for me. Though the area is a magnet for creativity and culture, particularly for the visual arts, there is very little dance programming on the East End.

The beaches of the Hamptons brought me to dance. Through the Hamptons Dance Project, I am bringing dance to the Hamptons.

—Jose Sebastian
Artistic Director